Principals claim race, sex discrimination

Posted: Tuesday, January 08, 2002

By Kate Carterkcarter@onlineathens.com

Citing discrimination by the Clarke County School District on the basis of sex and race, Chase Street Elementary School Principal Jerri-Lynn Williams and former Winterville Elementary School Principal Vivian Woodall filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Monday.

The EEOC, established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, handles job discrimination claims. The complaints filed Monday allege discrimination against the two women and other black and female school district administrators.

Woodall was placed on administrative leave Dec. 19 and reassigned to the post of associate grant writer and textbook coordinator at the school district's central office. She was also given a Professional Development Plan (PDP) by Clarke County Schools Superintendent Lewis Holloway. PDPs are used to critique job performance and suggest ways to improve.

Williams was also given a PDP, and, according to her EEOC complaint, was discriminated against in connection with her application for the position of personnel director for the school district.

According to Woodall and Williams' attorney, Matt Billips of the Atlanta law firm Zimring, Smith and Billips, the PDPs were based on trivial transgressions and were given to females and African-Americans exclusively.

''I don't think what's alleged merits a PDP,'' said Billips. ''It would surprise me to find that other principals in the school system haven't engaged in similar conduct without getting PDPs.''

Both educators' complaints allege that Holloway has treated them ''and other black and female administrators more harshly than he has treated white and male administrators.''

Neither Holloway nor school district attorney Terrell Benton would comment Monday on the PDPs or the reassignment of Woodall, citing confidentiality of personnel matters.

But last week, as news of the PDPs began to surface, Holloway was asked about allegations that they were handed down for trivial reasons.

''I guess that's not correct if they're on a PDP,'' the superintendent said.

Holloway also said last week that a PDP is not a disciplinary action, but failure by the principals to correct their performance could result in non-renewal of employment contracts in the spring.

According to Holloway, PDPs were seldom used in the past and he is simply urging heightened accountability throughout the system.

''There was one principal on a PDP the year before I came,'' Holloway, who became superintendent in 2000, said last week. ''It has not been the history of the school district to use PDPs.''

In addition to Woodall and Williams, Principals Charles Worthy of Cedar Shoals High School, Valdon Daniel of Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School and Sandy Mitchell of Fowler Drive Elementary School also received Professional Development Plans.

According to a statement in Williams' complaint, she was given a PDP by Holloway because she ''refused to give him a recommendation regarding the termination of an employee at Chase Street School'' -- one example of the ''trivial'' reasons behind the disciplinary actions, according to Billips.

Williams' complaint also included her application for the personnel director's post. She notes that she interviewed for the position in July and was told by Holloway that she would not be considered unless she agreed to accept no more than $65,000 annually.

But the position remained open, and was later advertised with a possible salary ranging from $65,000 to $85,000, according to the complaint. Around the same time, the complaint notes, the district hired a technology director -- a 28-year-old white male -- at an annual salary of $84,000.

According to Billips, those positions should not fetch such varying salaries.

''I don't know why a technology director would be any harder to find than a personnel director,'' said Billips.

Holloway said Monday he offered Williams a maximum of $65,000 for the post because that was the salary that had been advertised at that point. The school district later decided to conduct a national search for the position, at which point they upped the salary. The position remains unfilled.

According to Woodall's complaint, she received a PDP because she ''left school on September 11, 2001 (for the purpose of delivering a report to him (Holloway) that he had told me he had not received).''

And, according to Billips, Woodall was told by Holloway that the reason she was placed on administrative leave was because she had spread rumors about an alleged inappropriate relationship between Holloway and another school district employee.

''Apparently these rumors have been thoroughly spread without her assistance,'' said Billips, denying Woodall had any part in the mudslinging.